Sometimes you just need a break

The signs that you need a break from shoestring travelling are easily recognizable. First, you start to lose your sense of humour. Instead of shrugging amusedly when the pipes stop carrying water to your shower on the third floor while you are covered in soap - for the third time - you get frustrated.

Then you start to lose your temper. Like when the jerk who is supposed to be sitting behind the front desk (but is instead sitting by the tiled stairway) complains that the sound of your flip flops coming down the stairs disturbs his conversation with the pretty cleaning lady, you forget that proper protocol is to speak to his superior and instead go ape sh*t on him, embarassing him in front of his love interest, for which he punishes you by taking extra long to do everything from then on.

The third and final sign is cravings for western standards of living. These can be deadly for your wallet.

Yeah, Sammo's Guest House in Cape Coast kind of took it out of me. Normally it would have been fine - I was only paying 10 cedis (about 7.50 CDN) per night and I didn't expect five star service. But after two months on the road living as cheaply as possible, I finally reached my limit.

I started to crave spring mattresses, functioning plumbing, a private bathroom that doesn't smell like used toilet paper (the pipes can't handle toilet paper), and a swimming pool. I craved hotel staff that didn't leer at me or ask for my contact info, staff so obliging that they almost make you feel guilty, but not quite.

So I decided to take a break for one night. I'm overnighting (March 20-21) in Kumasi on my way to see the elephants in Mole National Park, and I checked in to the Golden Tulip Hotel and Resort. They told me the price of their cheapest room, I closed my eyes, held my breath, and gave them my credit card.

Now that the part where I blew my budget to smithereens is over, I feel pretty good. My room at the Golden Tulip has everything I had been craving, plus air conditioning! And the staff... they're not just obliging, they're downright obsequious. I could rhapsodize about them all night.

So for one night and one night only I will travel in style, and cheerfully go back to my budget tomorrow. I figure that making it halfway through my trip without breaking is pretty good, and I should be able to get through the other half without splurging like this again.